Improvement in automatic calendars for time-pieces



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. AUTOMATIC CALENDAR FOR TIME PIECES. Nq.17-7 ,879. Puented Ma 23,1876.

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rLPETERs, PHOTGLITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON, D c.

U ITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

MINER H. PADDOGK, OF EAST CLARKSON, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT'IN AUTOMATIC CALENDARS FOR TIME-PIECES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 177.879, dated May 23,1876; application filed April 13,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MINER H. PADDOGK, of East Olarkson,'in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved PerpetualAutomatic Calendar Attachment for Time-Pieces 5 and I do herebyweek-wheel placed upon the same fulcrum as skip-lever, and concentricwith the watch.

This invention relates to a novel construction of automatic perpetualattachment for a calendar, which calendar is designed to be applied-to atime piece, and so constructed as to be set from day to day through thewinding-stem by the act of windingindependently of the effect of themainspring. The said calendar is arranged for the days, weeks, andmonths, and while being practically automatic is also perpetual-that isto say, the the mechanism is such as to compensate for theirregular'number of days occuring in the difl'erent months by a systemof skipping, whereby a single day-wheel of thirty-one sub divisions ismade to indicate successively and in proper order the different numberof days (twenty-eight, thirty, or thirty-one) as they occur in thesuccessive months of the year.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 represents an enlarged view of the devices asapplied to a watch, which devices are locatedjust between thedialfaceand the watch-movement. A represents an annular wheel having thirty-onenotches upon its inner perimeter, and located near the outer edge of thewatch, the same being known as the day-wheel. B is a small disk upon thewinding-stem, having a tooth which engages with and turns a stop-wheel.(J is the stop-wheel which determines the number of revolutions of thewinding-stem, and has a slidebar, a, with tooth a, which strikes an idlewheel, D, and communicates motion therethrough to the day-wheel A. Theslide of this 7 stop-wheel is so arranged as to be projected by thetooth of disk B, and while the slide 7 strikes idle wheel D when movedinone direction it is struck upon the opposite end and driven .back bythe tooth of disk B during the last part of the operation of winding,and when the watch is running down does not strike the idle wheel in thereverse direction.

As thus described, the devices are substan tirlly the same as thosedescribed in the patent-already gran-ted me ,April 11,1876, with theexception that the wheel D, here denominated as idle wheel, forms simplya connection with the day-wheel, while in the patent referred to it ismade with seven teeth, and constitutes the week-wheel. The daywheel A isprovided with numbers on its face from 1 to 31, which pass successivelybeneath an openingin the dial-face, and show through. Projectinginwardly from the day-wheel are two teeth, I2 I), so designated becauseI) strikes a projection on a pallet, E, when the twentyninth day showsthrough the opening in the dial, and b strikes the same projection whenthe thirty-first day shows through said opening. The pallet E isprovided with a projection, c, which is struck by teeth 11 b, and hastwo operating faces, d cl, whichen gage with the month-regulator wheelF.

This pallet E operates reversely from the pallet of an ordinary clockescapement, in that it operates its wheel instead of being operatedbyit, the said pallet being moved in one diregulator, but I also give itthe name monthregulator, because, while it regulates the skips for shortmonths it may, by index-hand, indicate the month. The teeth I2 and I),or other means of moving skipregulator, I call actuators ofmonth-regulator. The Wheel F, by

multiplying its circumference, may have a greater capacity and answerthe same pur pose as a skip-regulator. By multiplying its circumferencecapacity, as compared with its actuators, by four, the calendar may beadjusted for leap-year. The slots also of monthregulator maylie-supplemented by pegs or other equivalents. H is the skipping-lever,which is pivoted to the center of the watch. This lever carries aspring-seated pawl, e, at one end, which moves freely in one directionover the notches of the day-wheel, and when moved in the oppositedirection engages with the notches and urges the day-wheel around one orthree notches to produce the skip according to whether the month ends intwentyeight or thirty days, and according to the length of the strokewhich is made to correspond with number of days to be skipped or the oddends of the month."

The skip-lever is pushed back ready for the spring-seated pawl to catchin the notch of the day-wheel by a spring, Land when in this position aprojection f, of the lever is brought within the range of the tooth a ofbar a of the stop-wheel, through which devices, when in said position,motion is imparted to the skip-lever to move the day-wheel whenever theskip is to be made. To determine these different positions of the skiplever, the month-regulator wheel F is provided with five slots orincisions, g, h, 'i,j, and 7c, of which 9 is three times the depth ofall the rest, which are of uniform size. Upon the end of skiplever H. isarranged a slide-bar, J, which passes through a guide, K, and operatesin the slots g, h, 73, and k, and also ,upon the notches of the wheel F.The one deep slot, 9, is for February, and allows slide-bar J to enterfar enough to cause the other end of skiplever to move back threenotches upon the day-wheel, so that when the tooth a of bar a in theprocess of winding strikes projectionf the day-wheel is moved threenotches, and a skip of three days made, to the 1st of March. The otherslots, h i j k, are .of one-third the depth of g, and are for the fourmonths ending in thirty days, (April, June, September, and November.)When, therefore, the slide-bar J enters these, the opposite end ofskip-lever is moved back one notch in the day-wheel, so that in windingat the ends of these months the tooth a strikes projection f and movesup the day-calendar one extra day to the first of the following month.

In considering the operation of the devices as thus described, it willbe necessary to bear in mind the following facts: first, that fortwenty-eightdays-a number common to every monththe slide a, with tooth ahas no cooperation with the projection f of skip-lever H, and isentirely independent of the same,

' the calendar A being turned directly through idle wheel D. For the oddends of the months,

however, over and above twenty-eight days,

the tooth a co-operates'with skip-lever to produce the skip for a shortmonth. Second, the

month-regulator wheel contains twenty-three eight andtllirty days to theother months,

which other months, being of thirty-one full days, require but acomplete revolution of the day-wheel Afor their fulfilment without bringing into operation the skipping devices. Third, the movement ofslide-bar J from one to the other of the small notches of the wheel 'Fis effected by the action of the pallet E, which vibrates from teeth 12I) and spring G. As the pallet vibrates, the face d strikes the inclinededge of a notch in wheel F, and turns it half a notch, and then the face(I strikes upon the same side of another notch, and, by moving wheel Fanothe'r half of a notch, completes one whole notch. As the pallet thusoperates the Wheel F the notches pass beneath the end of slide J, whichrecedes with spring-pressed skip-lever H, and the bar J thussuccessively enters the different notches by sliding up the inclinefaces of the same,

iresting at end of movement on apex of tooth.

Operation in detail: We willsuppose it to be January 1, the bar Jresting upon the apex of tooth 1. Uponthe 29th. of the month, 12deflects pallet E, and moves wheel F half a notch, causing barJ to enterthe notch between teeth 1 and 2'. After 1). passes the pallet, spring Gcauses pallet to move back, which motion gives the remaining half of themovement to wheel F, and the slide J rests upon the apex of tooth 2.Now, upon the 31st day of the month,b strikes pallet'E, and, by turningwheel F, brings slide J between the teeth 2 and 3. After passes, springGr forces the pallet back and completes the movement, bringing bar Jupon the apex of tooth 3. The bar J remains in this position, upon theapex of tooth 3 for the 28th day of February. Now, when No. 29 ofFebruary appears upon the winding of the watch for that day, I) strikesthe pallet, and, as it urges the wheel F halt a movement, bar J entersthe deep February slot 9. The effect of this is to lock wheel F andarrest the remaining half of the movement of the pallet which would beproduced by the action ofthe spring G. i

As bar J enters slot 9 it allows spring I to throw back skiplever Huntil its pawl passes three notches on the day-wheel A, which brings theprojection f within range of tooth a. Now, as the winding is continued,the tooth to of slide a of stop-wheel O strikes projection f and causesthe pawl e of skip-lever to move up day-wheel A three notches over whatwill be the 29th, 30th, and 31st of February to the 1st of March, thusproducing the skip. Now, the bar J being out of slot g, and'the wheel Ffree to move, the spring G forces the pallet in the.

opposite direction, completing it's'arr'este'd movement, which urges thewheel F half anotch, and allows bar J to rest outside of the Februaryslot, 'upon the first tooth upon the opposite side of the February slotas upon a shoulder. As the days of March now progress the slide J movesfrom notch to. notch, as already described, until it reaches thethirty-day months, when tooth b operates to produce the same result asthat just described, except that the slots h, 'i,j, and k are onlyonethird as deep as the February slot 9, and consequently the day-wheelis moved but one notch.

Having thus described the main part of my invention, I would have itunderstood that I do not confine myself to the precise construction andarrangement shown, as they may be varied in certain particulars withoutdeparting from my invention-as, for instance, instead of using atwenty-three notched monthwheel and two teeth, b 11 I may use a greaternumber of notches or a greater number of teeth. I may also make themonth-regulator wheel F double, and have one of the wheels contain thenotches and the other the slots. Instead, also, of using a pallet tomove the month-regulator wheel,-which pallet is in the nature ot'adouble-acting lever, I may use a single-acting lever, and so constructthe regulator-wheel as to still produce the same general result.

It will be seen, as so far described, there has been no reference to aweek-wheel. This latter (represented by L)'I locate upon the fulcrum ofthe skip-lever, concentric with the watch, and have its seven teethproject far enough to be struck by the tooth to of bar a in thestop-wheel every day when tne watch is wound. This week-wheel islettered near its periphery with the days of the week, which showthrough an opening in the dial-face, or the latter may have a smallerconcentric weekdial, and the week-wheel provided with an index-hand.

To provide for an irregularity arising from a failure to wind the watchfor a day theidle.

wheel D, and also the wcek-wheel, are provided with means forindependently adjusting the day and week calendar .to correct suchneglect, which adjustment can also be made use of for the extra day ofleap-year.

The actuators 11 b mark otf, respectively, twenty-eight and thirtyregular divisions, corresponding to twenty-eight and thirty days, whichtwo numbers of days are the greatest number days common to the months,the first when all the months, including February, are taken intoconsideration, and the second when the eleven months, without February,are taken into consideration. Hence the actuators determine ameasurement or division of days, common to all the months to beadjusted, which measurement is represented upon wheel A. The wheel F hasits circumference divided into notches and slots, according to theordcrand number of days leftof the twelve months in their order afterthe common parts.

of twenty-eight and thirty days mentioned above have been eliminated.These odd ends or remnants in their order are represented on the'wheelby notches and slots, and occupy the wheel; The wheelwas constructed torepresent. the odd ends -or remnants after said elimination isdetermined by the remnants, and hence I say the wheel F represents theodd ends or remnants of the months. The

wheel'is notched against the actuators I) b in such way that, in. therevolution of the wheel F by the actuators, each proper remnant isbrought again into combination with the part of month from which it wasseparated, each remnant in succession, till the twelve months of theyear, with their proper number of days each, are reproduced. In 'this reolution of the wheel centaining the remnants the slots representing theend of the short months produce a motion to cause skips for shortmonths; and hence I say the remnants of the months, as described above,are used in effecting the skips for short months.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isv 1. In anautomatic perpetual calendar, a device, 12 I), or equivalent, incombination with a wheel representing the greatest division of dayscommon to all the months, as described, and adapted at proper time tomove the skipping devices, for purposes set fort-h.

2. The wheel F, or equivalent, having its circumference divided torepresent, in their proper order, the odd ends or remnants of themonths, substantially as and for purpose set forth.

3. The wheel F, having its circumference divided into notches relativelyproportioned to-actuators b and D so as to revolve once a year, andprovided with slots corresponding to and arranged in the order of theshort months, in combination with a slot-bar, J, or equivalent, for thepurpose set forth.

4. The wheelA, having an established measurement of thirty-one days, andprovided with two teeth, I) and I2 or their equivalent, one of which islocated to operate for the short month of February, and the other forthe thirty-day months of April, June, September, November, to effect theskipping of the calendar to first of succeeding month, substantially asdescribed.

5. The skipping-lever H and the notched,

wheel A, having teeth I) and Zfihcombined with suitable intervening skipproducing mechanism, to regulate the number of days to be skipped,substantially as described.

6. The combination of annular calendar A with the skipping'lever H,adapted to operate the calendar A at one end, and be operated by saidcalendar A at the other, through a suitable intervening skip-producingmechanism, substantially as described.

7. The month-regulator wheel F, having slots of different depth,corresponding relatively to the different number of days to be skippedat end of shortmonth's, to regulate the movement of theskipping-leveqibr pur pose describei' 8. The wheel F, havingt'wentyf-tlireenotches,

in combination with the day-Wheel, having two teeth, b b, and a pallet;or double-act. in g lever, E, as and for purpose described:

9. The skipping-lever H, in combination" with the notched day-Wheel,as-and fbIfiPllP-I; pose described.-

slide-bar J, substan described.

x 11. The skipping-ieven-H, adapted to oper;

ate the daty-l\vhe"el,- in OOllIbillELtiOIlWit11-th6' slide :a of -thestop-wheelior'itsiequivalent,for the purposeof- 'eifecti11g the-skipthfough'rth e winding of the time-piece;-

' 12'. The seven-toothed JTWGGkENVhGGl L, pi'va oted :upon' the same;fulcrum :witli :the skip-1e 1 vergandeom-bined wi-th thefslide ofthestopwheeiyas amLfor:purposezdescribedn MINER H." :PADDOOK; i,

Witnesses:

CHAS. AJPETTIT, SoLoN-O. KEMoN-m

